A Day in Honolulu

I have just returned from a day in Honolulu. Even though I went for a job interview, there was still plenty of time for exploring afterward. Here are my thoughts about this bustling metropolis

• The bus service is incredible. I was able to hop on right outside the terminal at the airport and it basically dropped me off at the doorstep of the building I was going to. So much cheaper and easier than renting a car.
• The city is navigatable by foot. Big Island is not exactly pedestrian friendly, even in Kona and Hilo. In our town, if we want to venture more than a half mile out, we are slaves to the vehicle. It was refreshing to see sidewalks, bikes and people using both.
• Traffic is awful, which I was expecting.
• I am fortunate that all my previous times coming to Oahu I have been there for some other reason than to hang out in Waikiki. In fact, I realized today how very little time I've spent downtown. We usually go up country and I am grateful for that. “Town” can seem like a bubble and I would hate to be under the impression that all of Oahu is like that.
• Ala Moana sucks. Malls suck in general but this one was just terrible. It was like an endless hall of expensive crap with ridiculous people spending way too much money on things they most likely don't need. And there were no recycling bins for my plastic bottle :(
• The Goodwill was promising, but I should have eaten first because by the time I got there, I was no longer in the mood to browse.
• I could see myself living in an apartment in Honolulu, but only if I were higher than 3-4 stories.
• I checked out St Louis and Chaminade University. Plopping a high school right next to a (dry campus) college is such a clutch idea. Never too early to get those kids thinking about higher education!
• If I ever do this again, I am totally flying out of Kona and I'm not going to spend the day just “hanging out” in Honolulu. I'm so freaking tired and I still have an hour + drive. Bleh.
• I took a backpack, which I thought was pretty slick and all minimalist. Turns out that I just carried around my heavy-ass laptop all day for no reason. The only thing I had a chance to write was this post. Mr A was grumpy because he wanted to work on the computer today since he was home with the boys. Poorly planned. In the future, I must think harder about whether or not I will use/need the entire computer.